Pakistan plans $200,000 squash event next year

KARACHI: President Sindh Squash Association Adnan Asad has said he would organize a squash event with the prize money of 200,000 dollars next year in Karachi.

“We have planned this big event in January next year here in Karachi and a technical director of the world squash body has already inspected the venue in this regard,” said Adnan while talking to the media.

He added that some big PSA international squash events have also been planned next year just to project a positive image of the country. Adnan was instrumental in getting the hosting rights of the inaugural U23 World Squash Championships that is being held in Karachi from April 6-10.

“We’re very excited to host the Under 23 World Squash Championships. This is a great achievement and opportunity for Pakistan Squash to showcase the city of Karachi and show the world that Pakistan Squash is open for business. My goal is to make it a delight for all players, coaches and officials to visit Pakistan,” said Adnan.

He added that they have achieved a milestone by hosting this world championship and proved that the country is safe with standard venues for such big events and now it will pave the way to high prize international events in future.

Besides, Kazim Anwar, a businessman and former official of Sindh Squash Association, has also planned a big PSA event in Dubai or Beijing. “I am a squash promoter based in the United Arab Emirates and wish to hold an international squash tournament in Dubai and Beijing on behalf of my trust [Kazim Anwar Trust]. I am also in communication with PSA in the United Kingdom,” said Kazim in a comment on an international website on squash development.

It is worth adding here that Kazim contacted legendary squash player Qamar Zaman last year and asked him to guide him as he wanted to sponsor talented local players and get them trained by Egyptian coaches.

“I arranged his meeting with the officials of PSF and asked him to work with PSF since the federation is facing a financial crisis currently,” said Qamar while talking to ‘The News’, adding that he hoped that Kazim would offer PSF sharing fifty percent cost of players’ participation in international events.

Qamar added that besides sharing traveling costs Kazim also wanted to arrange Egyptian coaches for local players. But it seems that Kazim could not reach an agreement with the PSF and thus he shifted his focus on organizing international events outside Pakistan.

Kazim, a renowned industrialist who also served as Secretary SSA a long time back, has always shown interest in supporting squash in Pakistan in any form and thus he set up an academy at Roshan Khan Jahangir Khan Squash Complex in Karachi in 2015.

He partnered with Jahangir Khan for Champion Hunt Initiative Programme for Squash (CHIPS) and they selected a dozen players from across the country with the pledge to provide them accommodation, food, stipend, equipment, and facilitation for participation in national and international events. The players were getting training from Asif Khan and Abdur Rehman and the academy was planned for 3 to 5 years. The selected players were then sent to participate in the Malaysian Junior Open Squash Championship held at Penang from June 1-6, 2015, at a total cost of more than Rs 1.5 million.

But their poor performance disappointed Kazim, yet Jahangir asked the sponsor to give incentives to players for qualifying for the finals in the championship. The selected players under the initiative were not happy with the coaches, accommodation, monthly stipend, and equipment. They also complained of unavailability of competition.

The players did not like the coaching style of Asif Khan while Abdul Rehman was sacked by the academy officials soon after the launch of the academy, which affected the programme. Moreover, the players showed their reservations on the cut in their stipend from Rs5000 per month to Rs2000. The top players of the academy went to their hometowns and did not come back.

“Kazim was of the view that the academy or the CHIPS was closed down due to the accountability issues while the selected players were also quite disappointing and lethargic,” said a source while talking to this scribe.